A barrel cactus basks in the aurora’s rare glow, under the arch’s watchful eye.

Aurora Glow captured the moment in 2024, when the aurora borealis reached down into Central California and cast its ethereal red glow over the Alabama Hills. A perfect barrel cactus rises up to a sandstone arch, crowned by a red sky. What an extraordinary meeting of desert beauty and a rare aurora. Carla Meeske skillfully focus stacked the barrel cactus, and blended the foreground with a star-tracked sky to create a balanced composition in a skyrise format.

Artist’s Story

The Alabama Hills are known for arches and lumpy boulders incongruously placed before the sheer cliffs of the Sierras and Mount Whitney. This arch is also known for this perfectly shaped barrel cactus, that makes the perfect subject for a “near-far” landscape image. I like a good near-far, and I was excited to have my chance at this one, when I got a totally fantastic surprise – the aurora was dancing in the sky. What luck! This image was captured with a 14mm lens, focus stacking the foreground, and then putting on a tracker to get the stars extra crisp for the sky.

Print and Edition Information

Available in ChromaLuxe Semi Gloss Metal or Matte P99 Acrylic. Some images also available in Fine Art Paper Digitally signed with Certificate of Authenticity.
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Open Edition